If you had told me at the start of 2024 that one of my unexpected favorite shows this year would be Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, well, I probably would have believed you — I love Jude Law, what can I say? But the extent to which I enjoy this show? No way, Jose.
After a steady stream of Star Wars projects aimed at appealing to and entertaining teens and adults, Skeleton Crew is finally handing the beloved franchise back to kids and families by literally having four kids at the helm. It’s a series about the joys and challenges of growing up, made by and for children (at heart).
In the best way, the show — which follows three young humans and one young alien creature (who is kind of part Max Rebo, part elephant?) navigating the galaxy after stumbling upon an abandoned spaceship and accidentally sending themselves through hyperspace — feels like the adventures we all had as children (minus the hurtling into space part, obvs). After all, who didn’t have at least one experience growing up where they drew on a cardboard box and imagined it to be a space ship, castle, or something in-between? It’s the beauty in the mundanity and it’s what connects us all. In that, this show feels like our own dreams, visions, and hopes come to life. Childlike wonder is alive and well.
Skeleton Crew also puts the emphasis on families, reminding us to appreciate those we have. In watching the kids struggle and wish they could just be back at home with their moms, dads, and siblings, the series hits especially close to home as people make their own treks home fro the holidays. As the episodes cut back to the families of KB (Kyriana Kratter), Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), Neel (Robert Timothy Smith), and Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) on At Attin — the home planet they accidentally evacuated — we’re reminded of our own loved ones who are always thinking of us. Moms, dads, siblings, we know the feeling because we feel it ourselves.
Skeleton Crew lives and breathes for the age old adage reminding us that absence makes the heart grow fonder. In watching the tale of four young, scared, adventurous, and excited children having to form a family of their own — dysfunctional and argumentative, a.k.a. an accurate depiction of most families I’ve encountered — the audience feels the full weight of this series. Yes, at face value, the show is about the intergalactic escapades of four kiddos, that’s for sure. But look a little deeper and you can interpret another meaning, one where you struggle with what it means to grow up and branch out on your own.
For me, seeing Wim, Neel, KB, and Fern attempt to function as both children and the deciders of their own destiny — tensely and hesitantly discerning who to trust, where to go, etc — hit a little too close to home. The show immediately reminded me of my first semester away at college. I too felt unprepared and completely alone in a new and frightening way. When that holiday break came, though? One day with my sisters, friends, and family is all it took to feel like there would be a new hope in the spring. (1977 movie pun most certainly intended.)
All that is to say that Skeleton Crew feels so much like this terrifying and beautiful experience we all share in common at one point or another. Honestly, if if weren’t told through the lense of four hilarious children who are having fun along the way, it would probably be pretty scary.
Unlike a lot of other project these days, Skeleton Crew also manages to feel like it really is made for the whole family. In a world where so many TV shows and movies niche down and set their sights on appealing to one particular group, this series does feel like something the whole family — extended or immediate — can enjoy together. Whether you conside sci-fi your beat or oddball comedies, you’re sure to find something here to laugh at and take away.
And hey, you know the whole family is going to argue about what to turn on anyway so why not just suggest something fresh and new? (Especially with many school districts around the country off for two full weeks; we know parents are gonna need something to fill up all that time!) Not only will you seem dialed into the zeitgeist, but your family will thank you when they inevitably walk away feeling impatient for the next episode to release. And, in turn, you will thank us.
The first four episodes of Skeleton Crew are currently streaming on Disney+. New episodes release Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET.
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